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eldavojohn writes “This holiday season I will return to the land of my childhood. It is flat and desolate with the nearest major city being a three hour car drive away. Although being able to hear the blood pulse through your ears and enjoying the full milky way is nice, I have finally convinced my parents to get “the internet.” It’s basically a Verizon Jetpack that receives 4G connected to a router. My mom says it works great but she has complained of it cutting in and out. I know where the tower is, this land is so flat and so devoid of light pollution that the tower and all windmills are supernovas on the horizon at night. Usually I use my rooted Galaxy Nexus to read Slashdot, reply to work e-mails, etc. I would like to build an antenna for her 4G device so they can finally enjoy information the way I have. I have access to tons of scrap copper, wood, steel, etc and could probably hit a scrap yard if something else were needed. As a kid, I would build various quad antennas in an attempt to get better radio and TV reception (is the new digital television antenna design any different?) but I have no experience with building 4G antennas. I assume the sizes and lengths would be much different? After shopping around any 4G antenna costs way too much money. So, Slashdot, do you have any resources, suggestions, books, ideas or otherwise about building something to connect to a Jetpack antenna port? I’ve got a Masters of Science but it’s in Computer Science so if you do explain complicated circuits it helps to explain it like I’m five. I’ve used baluns before in antenna design but after pulling up unidirectional and reflector antenna designs, I realize I might be in a little over my head. Is there an industry standard book on building antennas for any spectrum?”

judgecorp writes “Each generation of smartphones actually has more dropped calls and worse battery life than the last, because antenna design has fallen behind. says Edinburgh-based Sofant Technologies. The firm has made a tunable, steerable RF antenna using micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) which it says will change all that. It’s based on research from Edinburgh University and is designed to get the best our of LTE/4G.”

MrSeb writes “Rohm, a Japanese semiconductor company, has created a silicon chip and antenna that’s currently capable of transmitting 1.5Gbps, with the potential to scale up to 30Gbps in the future. While this is a lot faster than anything currently on the market, the significant advance here is the reception and transmission of terahertz waves (300GHz to 3THz) using a chip and antenna that’s just two centimeters long. Rohm says it will only cost $5 when it comes to market in a few years — a stark comparison to current terahertz gear that’s both large and expensive. The problem with terahertz transmissions, though, is that it’s highly directional — with a submillimeter wavelength, it’s more like a laser than a signal. Terahertz waves might enable awesome device-to-device networks, but it isn’t going to bring 30Gbps internet to a whole city block. More interestingly, submillimeter terahertz radiation is the next step up from the gigahertz radiation used in full-body millimeter wave scanners. Terahertz waves can not only see through clothing, but can also penetrate a few millimeters of skin.”

slash-sa writes “Two South Africans have given their home country a boost with its Square Kilometre Array (SKA) bid by inventing cellular antenna technology which reduces ‘noisy’ emissions from cellular base stations in the area. They reduced emissions by using an antenna based on phased-array principles, providing omnidirectional coverage but also blocking the RF transmissions along a single direction (that would correspond with the bearing of the SKA core site). The antenna has been tested and performs extremely well. Trialling measurements have shown that the RF signal levels at the proposed SKA core site can be reduced significantly, while at the same time, much of the original GSM coverage can be retained.”

9 to 5 MacÂ reports that the expert now says that Apple may be infringing on Samsung’s patents.

As we’ve reported before, iPhone 4S includesÂ significant upgrades to its antenna system. The ability to switch between two antennas dynamically for both sending and receiving means that the dead grip issues observed with iPhone 4′s antenna system should be practically non-existent for users.

Professor Pedersen states, simply:

The idea is good enough, but the question is whether they are allowed to use it.

He and others at the Danish university of Aalborg speculate that Apple will run into some legal problems. Samsung has two patents (oneÂ | two) that cover technology on intelligently switching between different antennas.

One particular method of changing antennas in these patents does so by checking if the device is in portrait or landscape mode. Pedersen thinks that this feature may be included in the new iPhone 4S’s antenna technology. Since we don’t have much concrete information on the device as yet, the professor goes on to say:

I can not say that they are directly breaking the patent, but there are not many ways they can choose the right antenna, without coming to break many patents.

MacRumorsÂ is reporting that the iPhone 4SÂ has a significant upgrade to the antenna. The new system will be able to dynamically switch between antennas to resolve signal issues.

Apple has come a long way since theÂ AntennaGateÂ fiasco that surrounded the original iPhone 4, and Spencer Webb of AntennaSys says the new designÂ may have huge implications for the industry.

The iPhone 4′s design was based around having the various antennas located around the steel band that surround’s the device’s sides. The top part housed the Wi-Fi and GPS antennas and the bottom was home to the cellular antenna. Many users reported signal issues with the design, something that may or may not have been mitigated in the CDMA version of the device.

Webb theorized that the CDMA version changed the design. The Wi-Fi and GPS antenna were moved to the back of the phone’s body and a second cellular antenna was added to the top of the steel band. This “spatial diversity” helped improve signal issues, but was limited in the way it sent and received data. Namely, it’s believed that only the bottom antenna could transmit data.

The iPhone 4S’s design is similar, but Apple says that it will have “send and receive diversity” for both CDMA and GSM. This means that the phone will be able to dynamically change which antenna is transmitting or receiving data, something that can provide a huge improvement in cellular performance.

Webb also stated:

The iPhone 4S may indeed be the first phone to have diversity on both the send and receive sides, and that is a decently big deal. They still have the antenna around the rim, though, so it’s evolutionary, not revolutionary.

As we noted in our Live Coverage, the new iPhone 4S will have support for 14.4 Mbps HSPA.Â How much of a difference do you think this improved antenna system will make? Will it set a new bar for the industry?

AppleInsider reports that according to analystÂ Ming-Chi Kuo that there is no evidence of a redesigned iPhone 5 in the supply chain. According to his sources, iPhone 5 will look like iPhone 4 and will come with 512 MB RAM and front and back gorilla glass panels.

Kuo also claims that iPhone 5 will come with an improved antenna system, which will likely address the antenna issues that plagued iPhone 4.Â The camera module height will be almost the same height as iPhone 4, which indicates that iPhone 5 won’t be thinner than iPhone 4.

AppleInsider reports:

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo toldÂ AppleInsiderÂ on Monday that Apple’s anticipated fifth-generation iPhone will sport the same 512MB of DRAM as the iPhone 4. In addition, the hardware will feature a glass front and back, just like the current iPhone.

The so-called “iPhone 5″ is also expected to have an improved antenna design, potentially addressing concerns that aroseÂ last yearÂ when it was discovered that covering the bottom left corner of the iPhone 4 could reduce reception. Though the antenna will be improved, Kuo indicated there will be little change to its shape, and users will not see a discernable difference in its appearance.

Dubbed “N94,” the new iPhone model will reportedly also use the same Gorilla glass for itsÂ back panel. Kuo also said it will be available in both black and white models at launch, and 60 percent of units assembled so far have been of the black variety.

Kuo also claims that Apple is planning to build 30 million iPhone 5s by the end of 2011, of which Foxconn will manufacture 85 percent of the iPhone 5s, whileÂ Pegatron will manufacture the other 15 percent.

In fact, according to some reports, one of the new iPhone model that will look like iPhone 4 will be the cheaper 8GB entry-level iPhone model, that will be called iPhone 4S, which will be introduced along with the redesigned iPhone 5.

We are hoping to see a redesigned iPhone 5, so the lack of any evidence of such a model in the supply chain is worrying. Let’s hope Apple has figured out a way to keep their next generation iPhone models from leaking even from the supply chain.

MacRumors reports that they’ve received photos from some of their readers (via Ideal-Case.com), which appears to be the casing of rumored iPhone 4S, which give a better view of iPhone 4S antenna band. iPhone 4S is widely speculated to be a cheaper version of iPhone 4 that Apple will launch alongside iPhone 5.

Please note thatÂ in the photos below, the GSM iPhone 4 antenna band is at the top that is labeled “4G”, the iPhone 4S antenna band is in the middle, which is labeled “5G or 4GS”, and the CDMA iPhone 4 is at the bottom, which is labeled “CDMA”.

Here are some observations from the photos:

The purported iPhone 4S casing has a micro-SIM slot, so if it is legitimate, it is more likely to be the GSM iPhone 4S rather than a CDMA iPhone 4S or it could support both GSM and CDMA.

It has a similar stainless steel band as iPhone 4, which serves as the antenna system, which had resulted in theÂ AntennagateÂ controversy after iPhone 4 was launched due to complaints of reception issues.

The breakpoints in the frame are same as the CDMA iPhone 4.

The change in position of the break point has also resulted in the slight adjustment in the position of the mute switch just like CDMA iPhone 4.

As Slivka points out this is not the first time we’ve seen this casing. We had seen a similar iPhone casing back in January. At that time, we were not sure if it was for the CDMA iPhone 4 or the next generation iPhone.

All of this is still speculative, it still remains to be seen if this iPhone casing is for iPhone 4S or its for iPhone 5, which would mean that the next iPhone will only be a minor upgrade and it can also be fake.

We’ve heard rumors that Apple is planning to introduce a cheaper 8GB iPhone 4 for $99 as the new entry level model, along with the iPhone 5. There’re some suggestions that it may be called iPhone 4S (to avoid confusing it with iPhone 4), which will not only come with lower 8GB storage, but could also be made of different components to lower the manufacturing costs.

MacRumorsÂ has published images, which they claim are iPhone 4S casing. The images indicate that the so-called iPhone 4S will look like iPhone 4 but come with some minor changes to the antenna system.

MacRumors reports:

The mid-frame images above show that this so-called iPhone 4S will have two antenna breaks at the bottom of the casing. This differs from both the AT&T (GSM) iPhone 4 and Verizon (CDMA) iPhone 4. In AT&T’s iPhone, the antenna breaks are in two spots, along the lower left side and top left sides. On the Verizon’s model they are both at theÂ top sidesÂ of the casing.

The volume and mute switch are on the same side of the casing like iPhone 4.Â The other interesting bit is that the bottom frame of this so-called iPhone 4S does not have a defined Home button area, like iPhone 4 or previous generation iPhones. MacRumors says that it is a little hard to conclude for it, but points out that there have been some speculations that Apple maybe changing the home button. According to some rumors, Apple could replace it with a capacitive home button.

So far there has some confusion if the next generation iPhone will be called iPhone 4S or iPhone 5, but as we’re getting more details ahead of the imminent launch, it looks like Apple will introduce the cheaper iPhone 4 and call it iPhone 4S and launch a completely redesigned iPhone, which will be called iPhone 5.

As we’ve mentioned before, though we still love iPhone 4′s form factor and design and believe Apple will still sell tons of 8GB iPhone 4S’ at the $99 price point, we wouldn’t mind a completely redesigned iPhone 5.